There were 523 cases in progress – (320 PIAs, 121 DSAs and 82 DRNs).
The total debt involved in these cases is approximately €193 million.

Just 70 Protective Certificates were issued by the Courts. (Protective Certificates give protection to debtors against legal action by creditors for a period and allows a Personal Insolvency Practitioner 70 days in which to develop an arrangement).

There were 66 bankruptcies in the first Quarter of 2014. (Total of 76 since the rules were changed_

The ISI say they have received almost 11,000 telephone calls to its information line and 2,500 email enquiries.

The Insolvency Service of Ireland (ISI) announced that it will start accepting applications on Monday the 9th of September.
from authorised Personal Insolvency Practitioners and Approved Intermediaries for the new debt reliefs on behalf of insolvent debtors under the Personal Insolvency Act.

It will soon be possible , under new Personal Insolvency Legislation , to get certain debts of up to €20,000 completely written off in Ireland. From September – people can apply for a Debt Relief Notice (DRN) and be debt free after 3 years.

Who is Eligible?

Debt Amounts – only debts of less than €20,000 can be covered by a Debt Relief Notice (DRN). If you have bigger debts you need to look into a Debt Settlement Arrangement.

Types of Debts – Debts that can be written off under a DRN include ; Credit Card Debts, Store Card Debt, Overdrafts , Personal Loans , Credit Union Loans , Utility bills . (All unsecured) .Mortgage debts and other secured debts are not covered by DRNs

The following type of Debts can be included in a DRN but only if the creditor agrees: Taxes, duties, levies payable to the State ; Local government charges/rates/household charges ; Amounts due to the HSE under the Nursing Home Support Scheme ; Service charges to owner’s management companies ; Social Welfare Overpayments

Note – Applicants must not have incurred 25% or more of these debts during the past 6 months

Assets: You are not eligible for a DRN if you own assets (including property) valued at more than €400. So homeowners are not eligible for this type of debt relief.

But – these assets are not counted :
1 item of jewellery worth €750 or less
1 motor vehicle worth €2000 or less
Reasonably necessary household furniture/tools worth less than €6,000

Income Levels– Your monthly Disposable Income needs to be below specified guidelines – which depend on the size of your household. Disposable Income is defined as Gross Income less :-
Income tax,
Social insurance contributions (PRSI/USC) ,
Reasonable Rent Payments ,
Payments of debts that are excluded from the DRN.

These are some examples of the maximum Income levels for different households that would allow them to be eligible for a DRN: (This is after payment of Rent)

These amounts are calculated from the ISI reasonable living expenses guidelines for households with a car ( plus the €60 DRN “allowance”) Note : We have included Child Benefit as income because we haven’t reduced the reasonable living expenses to take account of Child Benefit

SO – using an example listed above
A couple with 2 secondary school children who are renting a house for €800 a month would be eligible for a DRN if their net income was less than €2439 + €800 = €3239 a month.
Take out the €260 child benefit – leaving €2979 a month.
A take home pay of €2979 a month equates to roughly €43000 annual gross income for a single earner couple.

If this couple have debts of under €20000 they could get them all written off in 3 years. (As long as their assets are no more than €400 plus 1 item of jewellery worth €750 or less plus 1 motor vehicle worth €2000 or less , plus household furniture/tools worth less than €6,000)

If someone on a DRN has an increase in monthly net income of €400 or more; or they receive a gift or sum of money of €500 or more – they have to give 50% to the ISI for the benefit of their creditors.

Once a Debt Relief Notuce is issued it lasts for 3 years – none of the creditors listed in the DRN can can pursue you for the debts you owe them that are specified in the DRN. At the end of the 3 year period, all debts listed in the DRN will be written off in full.

This week the the director of The Insolvency Service of Ireland (ISI) , Lorcan O’Connor , updated the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform on the latest ISI progress and targets.

He told them that he expects the ISI to be in a position to accept applications from the public in mid-August, ( five months after the establishment of the service).

Applications to become Personal Insolvency Practitioners (PIPs) and Approved Intermediaries (AIs) are already being processed and they will be authorising some by the end of July. People will then be able to meet authorised practitioners straight away.

The Insolvency Service’s IT system is still not fully operational. By the 19th July complete end-to-end testing of IT systems is due to start and will involve involving MABS, potential PIPs and the Courts Service.

There are still some provisions of the Personal Insolvency Act that have not being signed into Law .

The ISI expect that the first Debt Relief Notices (DRN) will not be issued until early September 2013 . It will be Septyember too before the first Protective Certificates will be issued ( These will cover people applying for a Debt Settlement Arrangement (DSA) or a Personal Insolvency Arrangement (PIA).

The Insolvency Service of Ireland is planning to fully launch it’s website in April. The ISI full publicity campaign launch was scheduled for the week of 8th of April 2013. That has now been delayed until “mid April”

A new group of “specialist judges” will be appointed to deal with all the insolvency actions due to come before the courts.These specialist judges will receive the same salaries as newly appointed Circuit Court judges, will be regarded as full judges and must be addressed in court as “judge”.

The Judges will be chosen from county registrars who will have to apply for the €140,623-a-year roles .

County registrars perform a number of quasi-judicial functions – for example holding motions courts and case progression hearings, conducting arbitrations under the Landlord and Tenant (Ground Rents) Acts and the taxation of costs. In addition, the county registrar has responsibility for the administration and management of the circuit court offices in each county.

Alan Shatter T.D, Minister for Justice, Equality and Defence, has announced the commencement of recruitment of some of the specialist staff required by the Insolvency Service of Ireland (ISI).

U up to 80 staff, including some specialist staff, may be required initially for the Service itself. It is expected that they will be mainly sourced through redeployment from other areas within the public service.

Arrangements are also being made for the transfer of the functions, in regard to the administration of bankruptcy currently carried out by the Courts Service to the new Insolvency Service.

A number of specialist staff will be required, on either short and long-term contracts. To start this process, and to ensure that the Service will be in a position to discharge its functions early in 2013, the Government has agreed that a recruitment process for a number of accountants and an in-house solicitor, should commence immediately.

Where suitable staff cannot be sourced from redeployment from across the public sector, they will be recruited through an open process organised by the Public Appointments Service.

Considerable emphasis is being placed on developing the Information and Communications Technology aspects of the new Service, with priority attention being devoted to the design and development of the necessary case management, financial management and management information systems. The process of identifying and securing an appropriate office premises for the new Service is also underway.

Minister Shatter said ““I am keen that the new Insolvency Service will be in a position to open for business as soon as possible after the necessary legislation is passed by the Oireachtas. This approval by Government of the staffing resources necessary is a key step and I look forward to speedy progress over the coming months.”